Sports

AS Sunday’s U-21A county football final nears, Kilmurry Ibrickane and Lissycasey are approaching with a common agenda, yet a vastly contrasting record at this level. While Lissycasey are seeking their first U-21A title, Kilmurry have already put 13 on their sideboard, although none since they completed five in-a-row in 2007. They were beaten in the 2008 replay by St Joseph’s Doora-Barefield. This weekend’s final in Corofin will represent Lissycasey’s third at this level, having won successive minor A championships in 2013 and 2014. They lost their previous U-21 finals to Kilmurry Ibrickane and Ennistymon. En route to the final, Lissycasey have beaten Cooraclare, reigning champions Éire Óg and Kilmihil/Shannon Gaels in last Friday’s semi-final. Kilmurry will field for the fifth successive weekend, having defeated Kilrush-Killimer, St Breckan’s (replay) and Ennistymon in the semi-final. Interestingly, in the three games that Kilmurry have won, the club they defeated scored 1-7. Most of these players participated in the 2013 minor A final, when …

Johnstownbridge, Kildare 1-10 Scariff-Ogonnelloe 1-9 There was heartbreak for Scariff-Ogonnelloe in this afternoon’s All-Ireland junior club camogie championship final at St. Brendans Park in Birr where they suffered a one point loss to the reigning champions, Johnstownbridge from Kildare. The value of experience was highlighted in this hard fought contest when the experience gained by the Kildare and Leinster champions over the past two years helped them to get over the line. Overall, they were marginally the better side but when the Clare girls review this tie, they will reflect on opportunities which were missed and which might have made the difference on the day. The teams swapped points three times in the opening quarter before Scariff-Ogonnelloe edged a point in front for the third time. Eight minutes from the half time whistle the holders and favourites struck a vital blow when Roisin O’Connell struck for their goal and this helped them to lead at the break on a scoreline …

Lissycasey and Kilmurry-Ibrickane will meet in the final of the 2016 Clare under 21 A football championship. A 1-12 to 1-7 win over Ennistymon at Corofin on this Saturday afternoon saw Kilmurry move a step closer to adding the under 21 A title to the senior crown they won last month. They had led by the minimum margin at half time when the score was 0-7 to 1-3. Lissycasey qualified for the final last evening, Friday) when they scored a 2-13 to 1-7 win over the Shannon Gaels/Kilmihil combination in a game played under lights at Cooraclare. Lissycasey laid the foundation for that win in the first half at the end of which they were ten points clear, 2-7 to 0-3, the goals coming from Padraig McNamara and Aaron Griffin. The final is a repeat of the minor A final of three years ago, a game won by Lissycasey by the minimum margin. Two competitions remain to be completed and …

SCARIFF-Ogonnelloe full-back Marian O’Brien started out the season taking charge of the strength and conditioning programme for the team. Having retired from competitive camogie three years ago, she had no intention of returning as a player. A community sports development officer by occupation, she ended up playing when the team was short of players. Now she’s goiong to line out in an All-Ireland final. “It’s great and I am loving it. I never thought we would be back in another All-Ireland final. We started in January with a focus on what we wanted to achieve. We have worked very hard; a massive commitment, which has brought us this far. We have a good fitness level and a good strength and conditioning level. We are now concentrating on our skill level ahead of the final,” she said. An All-Star nominee in 2013, O’Brien won senior shield, intermediate and league titles in 2013, All-Ireland Sevens in the same year and was part …

SUPPORTERS of Scariff-Ogonnelloe Camogie Club will travel to St Brendan’s Park in Birr on Sunday hoping to see their team go a step further than in 2013, when they compete in the All-Ireland Junior Camogie Club Championship final. Leinster champions will again provide the opposition and this time Johnstownbridge stand between them and the All-Ireland title. Three years ago, Myshall from Carlow proved too strong for the Clare side. Johnstownbridge will carry the favourites’ tag, as they are the defending champions but Scariff-Ogonnelloe have shown impressive form all season and their supporters are confident that the Clare girls will give a good account of themselves in Sunday’s game, which throws in at 2pm. In the semi-final two weeks ago, the Clare intermediate champions recorded a facile win over the Ulster champions, Ballysaran, and they will have learned little from that outing. Johnstownbridge, on the other hand, had to fight all the way for victory in their match against a strong …

November 20, 2016Comments Off on Outstanding Ballyea end Clare’s 16 year Munster wait

Ballyea 1-21 Glen Rovers 2-10 A truly outstanding performance by Ballyea brought an end to a sixteen year wait when the first time Clare senior hurling champions added the Munster title to their roll of honour at Semple stadium in Thurles this afternoon Their fully merited eight point win over Glen Rovers from Cork saw them become the first Clare club since Sixmilebridge in 2000 to bring the Munster club title back to Clare. rechampion.ie”);There will be no arguments about the merit of their victory as they dominated this contest, played before an official attendance of 4,583, from the early minutes. Yes, Glen Rovers did enjoy a period of dominance in the early minutes of the second half when they hit 2-1 inside seven minutes but three points was as close as they got to the Clare champions who bounced back with some great points before dominating the closing ten minutes when they outscored their opponents, 0-7 to …

AT this time of year, Robbie Hogan would normally be spending his Sunday afternoons at home watching the club games on TV and aspiring that some day Ballyea would be in that position. Well, now they are. “In fairness, while it’s a bit surreal, it’s all happening so fast the last few weeks. You win something and there is another challenge put in front of you straight away. I have to be honest and say that preparing for a Munster final as the end of November approaches wasn’t on my mind when we set out at the start of the year.” How did he find himself in the position of senior team manager with Ballyea? “I got a call from Michael Keane [club chairman at the time] five years ago. Tom Ryan was coming from Limerick at the time and Michael said it’s a great opportunity to see how these fellas work. Tom came and went and myself and Reggie …

HAIL the Comeback Kings! Ballyea’s fairy tale run to capture their first Canon Hamilton trophy and qualify for their maiden Munster club final has been fashioned with some unbelievable comebacks when all seemed lost. Having lost their first-round clash with Éire Óg, Ballyea had to win the rest of their games to remain in contention for a place in the knock-out stages. This was in sharp contrast to 2015, when the men in black and amber won their first two outings and advanced straight through to a quarter-final. Now in his third year as club chairman, Pat Moylan acknowledged that his charges have produced some extraordinary fight-backs this year during the championship, which culminated in an amazing late flourish to force extra time against Tipperary kingpins Thurles Sarsfields before registering a memorable two-point win. “Ballyea went seven points down against Crusheen early on in that game. The lads dug deep and ground out a result. They did the same against …

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